Fred departed and summer signings Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat have so far failed to live up to expectations. A pivot of Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen has started each of United’s last three games, but the feeling is that further investment is needed in that area.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s deal to purchase a 25 per cent stake in United for approximately £1.3billion could be announced as soon as next week and he will oversee the sporting side of the club, with one of his first tasks set to be improving the squad in the January transfer window.
He and his team will be well aware of Fofana’s talents in Ligue 1, having owned rival team Nice since 2019. Having already become a regular in Didier Deschamps’ France squads, Fofana could believe that his next step is to a big club in the Premier League to showcase his abilities, perhaps with United as a long-term Casemiro replacement.